I. Got. These.

beautiful flowers from a boy on my birthday. Mmmmhmmm.

And That's What Comes From Men and Women Dancing

I'm not typically one to string a bunch of events together and call it cause-and-effect. And I always laugh hysterically when I think of one of my favorite scenes from Fiddler on the Roof where a whole slew of events go array simple "because" men and women were dancing together. But I do enjoy good turning of events.

I love going up to the Sundance Film Festival every year: stalking stars, seeing films, bundling up cute, and eating out. It's something to brighten up the often bleak January landscape. Every year we wait-list tickets or last-minute purchase tickets to hopefully-okay-movies. This year I did the early "locals-only" registration which would assign me a time slot to purchase as many tickets as I wanted, first.



When I received notification of my ticket-purchasing-time-slot I realized it was on Sunday. Drat. Of course. After talking to myself for a minute I realized I'd better not. We'd just chance it again this year and hope to get tickets to something interesting.

So...we got tickets to a good, clean film with less than usual trouble, we drove up there and instantly found a free parking spot one street over from Main Street, right next to the shuttle bus pickup stop, right across from the $20 a day parking. Then we actually saw a celebrity without even looking - three feet away on the bus: the very cute, Anthony Mackie from The Adjustment Bureau, among other films.


And that's what seems to come from not shopping for tickets on Sunday: easily getting last minute tickets without having to wait in line, finding a free parking spot where it would normally cost $20, seeing a good, clean film, and then inadvertently spotting a celebrity, without hours of hopefull stalking! haha

Correlation? Probably. But I was delighted.

I'll Never Never Never...

Wear colored tights like my quirky high school English teacher. Hmmmm....now I'm a high school English teacher wearing colored tights. Yikes! So - there are many, many things I said I would never do like be in a beauty pageant, listen to country music, kiss on a first date, wear skinny jeans, try online dating, become a teacher...Maybe I should say I will never get married, and I will in fact, get right on to doing just that.

The Life Unexpected: Lessons from My Grandmother

My grandmother recently died. The funeral was held on New Year's Eve. Next to my own mother, she was one of the most influential women in my life. This is the legacy she has left for me:

Love everyone. Everyone was her favorite. I always thought I was one of her favorite grandchildren, but I have no doubt every single one of us have felt the same way.

Always have something kind to say. Grandma could find something positive to say about everyone and every situation. Like my own mother, rarely did anything cross about anyone come out of her mouth.

Always look and act like a lady. Even at the age of 90+ grandma always did her hair and makeup, even if she wasn't leaving the house.

Always have a cookie or a bowl of ice-cream on hand. Everything feels like it will be okay after a spoonfull of sugar. And it will taste better if it comes out of a large, strawberry-shaped cookie jar.

Love the Lord and He will help you rise from the ashes. My grandmother isn't my real grandmother. My dad's mom died when my mother was pregnant with me, and my grandpa married my Grandma Charlene when I was a small child. She had a hard first marriage and hard life, but then she found my grandfather and together they loved her six children, his six children, and all of us grandchildren; went on four missions together, and never passed an opporutnity to share their testimonies.

FOR me, my grandmother was an example of faith - and much blessing after much tribulation. TO me, she was a powerful example of how to gracefully live the unexpected life.